Of the two in S.C., one is 'a spectacular financial failure' while the other
is moving traffic above expectations
South Carolinians just don't seem to like the idea of having to pay to drive
on a road.
The state has only two toll roads. And as Charleston County Council
considers building another that cuts across largely rural Johns Island, some
people are looking closely at them to see if they're working.
The Coastal Conservation League, which is opposed to building a toll road on
Johns Island, says the state's experience with pay-to-drive roads hasn't
been good. Officials should be cautious when considering building more toll
roads, the group says.
The Cross Island Parkway on Hilton Head Island, the state's first toll road,
which opened in early 1998, is clearly the more successful of the two
projects. On average, 26,000 cars use the road each day, according to the
South Carolina Department of Transportation. That's 8,000 cars more than the
original projections estimated for the road's 10-year mark. Financially,
however, the project is just getting by, and SCDOT had to raise the toll
this year for the first time, increasing it to $1.25 from $1.
The Southern Connector in Greenville, the state's second toll road, which
opened in 2001, has failed dramatically to meet traffic and financial
projections. The toll road runs along the southern end of Greenville and
connects Interstate 85 to Interstate 385. In 2007, the road brought in about
$5.4 million. That falls 62 percent short of the amount of money the road
was expected to generate, according to the trade publication TOLLROADSnews.
Tim Brett, spokesman for the Southern Connector, said the road, which was
built by a public-private partnership called the Connections 2000
Association, is having financial trouble because use has fallen far below
projections.
The projections were off likely because the original study included some
miscalculations, he said. And, he added, there was an economic slowdown just
after the road opened.
Alex Dadok, project manager for the Coastal Conservation League, called the
Southern Connector "a spectacular financial failure."
Joe Bunting is chief operating officer of the Kiawah Island Community
Association. He said the association's board and the mayor of the town
strongly support building a toll road across Johns Island.
The road would bring people across Johns Island to Kiawah Island more
quickly, Bunting said. And it would divert traffic from slower-moving roads
on Johns Island, making them safer.
The association hasn't carefully reviewed the performance of the state's
other toll roads, Bunting said, but he doesn't believe there's much to learn
from the financially troubled Southern Connector. Drivers in that area can
choose to pay to drive on the toll road or they can drive for free on the
interstate. The toll road doesn't offer them much for their money, he said.
But on the proposed Johns Island road, drivers would have the choice of
driving on the toll road or on "slower-moving neighborhood streets," he
said. Bunting believes many drivers would opt to use a toll road across
Johns Island.
Kiawah Development Partners, which also supports building the toll road,
recommended speaking to Wallace Hawkes, a special projects consultant for
URS, a large engineering firm that builds toll roads.
Hawkes said that just like any other business, sometimes toll roads fail to
meet financial expectations. "For every Southern Connector there are a lot
of success stories out there," he said.
Hawkes said Charleston County considered building a similar road across
Johns Island in the mid-1990s. His company bid on the contract but the
county didn't go ahead with the project, he said.
Hawkes said that if the county decides to move forward with the Sea Islands
Parkway, a consortium of companies, including URS, will likely bid on it.
"The Sea Islands project looks like a very good project," he said.
But Dadok said the county should be careful.
Toll roads can't immediately solve traffic problems, he said. Nearly a
decade passed between the time Hilton Head's Cross Island Parkway was
approved and the time it opened. "It wasn't a quick fix," he said.
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